1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more particularly to a pair of connectors reliably coupleable with each other by means of a resilient member provided on one of the connectors, and the resilient member being operable for repelling and drawing the other connector in the course of coupling the connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
On a vehicle, such as an automobile, there are installed many electronic components for control purposes which are electrically connected by means of wiring harnesses, flat cables, and the like. These wiring harnesses, and the like, are used with various kinds of connectors which have water-proofness to be usable under severe conditions, such as submergence, and which are designed to be easily fitted and detached, making allowance for the assembly and maintenance of the vehicle.
Such a conventional pair of connectors, one provided on the electronic component and the other on the wiring harness, or the like, however, are often coupled in an incompletely-fitted condition, with terminals inside maintained out of contact with each other, though not noticeable from outside. If assembly, testing and maintenance operations are effected with such an incomplete connection overlooked, a failure of performance of such electronic equipment may be caused.
As a countermeasure to the above, connectors with an incomplete fitting detection mechanism have been proposed, in which mechanism a spring is contained in one of the mating connectors, and by making use of the repulsion force of the spring, the other connector is pushed out in case of incomplete fitting.
With the incomplete fitting detection mechanism as mentioned above, however, in order to push out the other connector, a spring is selected as that contained in the one connector which has a larger repulsion force than a terminal insertion or drawing-out force. As a result, the connector insertion force required in coupling the connectors often becomes twice or more the terminal insertion or drawing-out force, resulting in a poor working efficiency.
Further, because of the large connector insertion force required, the incomplete fitting detection mechanism is not suited for use with a multipolar connector involving many terminals.
Thus, there still remains improvement to be made to prevent an incomplete coupling of connectors and to reliably and easily couple connectors including multipolar connectors.